Louis de Sancerre ( 1341 or 1342 - 6 February 1402 ) was a marshal of France during the Hundred Years War .

Biography

Louis de Sancerre is the second son of Count Louis II of Sancerre and Beatrix of Roucy. Fatherless, killed at the battle of Crecy in 1346, he was raised by order of King Philip of Valois, with the children of Duke of Normandy .

18 June 1359 , at age 17, he made ​​his debut at the siege of Melun , the Dauphin ( later Charles V ), attracted attention by his bravery of Constable Bertrand du Guesclin , and from that moment became a friend of this great man . On family land, he participated in the successful defense of the castle and the town of Sancerre , attacked by a company led by the English captain and company chief Jean Aymery, alongside his brothers John and Robert .

Marshal of France (1368-1397)

His role in the reconquest (1368-1379)

Louis seconded the Guesclin and Olivier de Clisson in the reconquest of Guyenne . He rendered great service to King Charles V who created him Marshal of France on 20 June 1368 to protect Paris, the capital of companies threatened by Gascon and English. The king then appointed commander of the army of Guienne. It is known therefore as the marshal de Sancerre.

In 1369 , Louis forced the Earl of Pembroke to withdraw his men in a village in Poitou Puyrenon named. Surprised by the French Marshal Louis de Sancerre, the count had time to barricade (route) to the Hôpitault. Jacques Surgères accompanied the Earl of Pembroke in the ride he did, in 1369, against the Viscount Louis de Rochechouart and when he was surprised to Purnon by the Count of Sancerre .

To counter the advance of Knolles , Du Guesclin and Sancerre each form an army (in Caen and Vendome). On December 4, 1370, Guesclin surprise attack at dawn, the Grandson of Thomas English (600-1200 men) on the Loir. Sancerre is still several hours away, when he learns that success Pontvallain it to file south to the body of Fitz-Walter, who retreated to Vaas . Fitz-Walter was not the time to place his army, and was beaten by dryly Sancerre; Guesclin reaches the end, to complete the victory .

Louis de Sancerre passed shows the 5 September 1371 in Tours, with 21 knights bach. and 58 squires , to make war in Poitou . Louis de Sancerre battle, in 1372 , the British Limousin, Guyenne, Languedoc and delivers Sainte-Severe . On April 24 he arrived in Limoges , a city taken over by the Black Prince after a brief siege from 14 to 19 September 1370 . He lives there with the Jacobins. He received the courtesies of the consuls and burghers. Louis summoned the consuls as the inhabitants to submit to the obedience of the king as they had promised. After the oath of the citizens and inhabitants of the city, the Marshal entered the city with its people, flying, and he placed the banners of the King of France near Limoges .

In 1375 , Louis takes Cognac , Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte and fight the Companies, and the lords of Auvergne engaged in banditry. The Louis de Sancerre is received at Perigueux , on 8 September 1376 . On 5 December 1376 , Louis, in a letter addressed to the seneschal of Angouleme , he ordered a levy was made ​​of money to complete the delivery of English enemies . In July and August 1377 , during a new campaign in Guienne, the duke of Anjou, Sancerre and remove 134 cities and fortresses. late July, the army regrouped at Poitiers with more than 2,000 men, they leave on August 1 , go through Nontron , Brantome , Bourdeilles (taken after seven days of siege), Perigueux, Bergerac and arrive before August 22 which falls on September 3. The Chronicles of Froissart tells us how, during the siege of Bergerac by Du Guesclin ... "the lord of Duras , Galhard , was captured by Marshal de Sancerre, with him, the lords, Madaillan , sire of Rauzan, Berard of Albret of Langoiran and Raymond Montault of Musselburgh " , assigned to the Duke of Anjou 30,000 francs in gold, September 14. Sainte-Foy and Castillon are taken on the 20th, the citadel of St. Macarius falls on October 8, Langon, October 8 and Duras, 27.

A marshal under the Regency and the reign of Charles VI (1380-1397)

In July 1380 , Louis was present at the siege of the fortress of the barony of Chateauneuf de Randon , led by the constable Du Guesclin. While Marshal de Sancerre had advanced on the banks of the ditch of the fortress under siege, and had summoned the governor to surrender the place: the latter replied that he had given his word to Du Guesclin and that it would to him. Sancerre then confessed that the constable had just died. "Well! said the governor, I will carry the keys of the city on his tomb. "Louis de Sancerre was preparing the burial ceremony of the constable .

Then, Marshal de Sancerre came in Guyenne and laid siege to Montguyon , a day's walk from Libourne . He attended the Nov. 4 at the coronation of Charles VI in the cathedral of Reims. Following the death of Du Guesclin, he was given command of the armies of the young King in Guyenne, in 1381 , to defend the English . Around 1381, Pons Langeac is captain Auvergne under him , .

In combat Bridge Comines , in 1382 , Louis de Sancerre, leading a small band of French riders, attacks many of Flemings. Speaking of this battle Froissart says: "Here we cried: Saint Py, Laval, Sancerre, Anguien! and other cries they shouted that he had gendarmes. " He co-command the French avant-garde at the battle of Roosebecke of 27 November 1382 against the Flemings, with the constable De Clisson.

In 1383 , during disturbances in Paris, Marshal de Sancerre and the Sire de Coucy, when their advance guard had broken the Porte Saint-Denis, torn from their hinges made ​​three other gates of Paris, between the latter and that of St. Anthony, so that all ways of fighting men might enter day and night .

Sancerre instaura Sagonne in 1383 to four annual fairs and a market on Saturday. He built a tower in the castle Sagonne .

Louis de Sancerre returned to Guienne to the English companies in 1383 and 1385 . In 1384, Marshal Louis de Sancerre submits Marseille and some other places in Provence . Sancerre is sent to England in 1385 , .

In 1386 , Louis de Sancerre is also a lieutenant and captain general of the king in the land of Limousin, Marche, Saintonge, Angoulême and Pierregort and all the land of Guyenne by the Dordogne below . On 17 May 1386, the king awarded custody of the castles of Cognac, Merpins and Chateauneuf. That same year, Marshal of France besieges the castle Bouteville (Charente). In 1387 , Louis de Sancerre drove the English from The Castle Rochandry . The same year, Louis de Sancerre has the Lordship of Charpignon (in Sury-es-Bois) and land Thou dependent .

Bands of looters who took refuge in the castles of the region of Angoulême, Marshal de Sancerre demolished in 1387 , the castles of Jarnac , Bourg-Charente and Merpins . Marshal de Sancerre went to the headquarters of Chateauneuf-sur-Charente , of Vibrac and Merpins . The journal of Louis de Sancerre was received Merpins , the February 1, 1387 and at Poitiers February 15, 1387 . It acquires Charpignon (Sury) and Thou in 1387. He led a hard life to the English since the end of last truces, and both parties felt the need to make new ones. This is what happened in that month of August 1388 . That same year, he was sent to the south at the time of negotiations for the marriage of Duke Jean de Berry and Jeanne de Boulogne, who lived at the court of the Count of Foix , his cousin . May 18, 1389 , Charles VI Berry is his lieutenant in Languedoc and entrusts Sancerre . December 10, 1390 , Louis de Sancerre was appointed governor of Languedoc . He remained chairman until 1401 . In June, he played an intermediary role between Queen Yolande of Aragon and King Charles VI to seal the alliance between the two kingdoms . . Louis is lord of Ambrault in 1391 .

Constable of France (1397-1402), civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians

He was created Constable of France on 26 July 1397 , the death of the Comte d'Eu , Philippe d'Artois, and was sworn to the king on July 22 . During the summer, Louis de Sancerre hunting the Great Companies of the Languedoc. Louis oath for the office of constable, the 11 September . In 1398 , Louis led the armies of the king against the Captal Buch , Archibald of Grailly , the County of Foix and treated with him to get him out of the party of England. At Saverdun , the constable of Sancerre submits the county of Foix and other areas to the royal authority: the people lend loyalty to the king on August 30 1398. Louis made ​​himself master of Bordes, Fossat of Daumazan, Ybars St. , La Bastide de Besplas ... and started taking the castle Montaut on 24 January 1399 . On 10 May 1399, by the Treaty of Tarbes, the Count of Foix abandons the English party. The Constable de Sancerre had already conquered some of his castles . He sent to Guyenne in Paris two hermits "doctors" the bedside of King Charles VI in hopes to find a cure. To Pentecost 1399, the king "crazy" gives the order to Louis de Sancerre, then at Toulouse, to bring him the Shroud of Cadouin .

According to Jacques Faugeras, there toward the end of his life, strained relations with the Duke Jean de Berry . In 1401, the Constable of Sancerre, ill, resigns his government of Languedoc. Dying, he made his will on Feb. 4 when he named as executor: Louis, Duke of Orleans, Arnaud de Corbie, chancellor of France, Jean de Roucy, Bishop of Laon, his cousin, Guichard Dauphin, his brother- Guichard Dauphin young nephew and some other lords and officers . He died following a long illness on Tuesday, 6 February 1402 . Louis was buried on February 19 in the Basilica of St. Denis , on the left side of the chapel of St. John the Baptist chapel of King Charles V , under the arch of the "big climb that goes the chorus." Her lying white marble, was once on a black marble slab . "His funeral was celebrated solemnly in the presence of the dukes of Burgundy and of Orleans and many barons " .

Family, descendants and heirs

The sources do not attest to an alliance. Its connections, Louis had two illegitimate children:

Jehannette, bastard of Sancerre, married to John of the Teillaye , , the king's counselor.

His niece, Margaret and her younger sister Isabella of Sancerre, their spouses, are qualified heirs of Louis de Sancerre. The Chronicle of the monk of St. Denys tells us that he recommends to his nephew, Guichard Dauphin, quartered his arms with his and her bequeath the perpetual use and hereditary title of the best part of his lordship of Sancerre.

Isabeau of Sancerre

Isabelle, Isabelle or Isabeau de Sancerre (born about 1342 - after 1391 ), is qualified lady Bommiers , then, by his marriage, lady of Clery and Vouzon , of the Bussiere . She married Pierre de Gracay , lord of La Ferte -Nabert, Isle of Clery and Vouzon (died 1363). Widow, she married her second husband, around 1365, Guichard I (d. 1403 ), dauphin of Auvergne, Baron de La Ferte - Chauderon , lord of Jalligny and Master of Crossbowmen , .

She had two son, Guichard, around 1365 or 1371 and Louis, who ended his short life at the monastery of Marseigne . Jaligny, "nephew" of Louis de Sancerre, inherited the manor of Bommiers and the barony of Luzy , was killed at Agincourt in 1415, as Grand Master of France .

Not to be confused with a "cousin" namesake who married Arnould de Bonnay , lord of Précy , to ref 1384-1389> History and Statistics of monumental Cher, by Alphonse of Kersers Buhot, published by Office of book publishing History, 1996 </ ref>. In 1384, Arnold Bonnay, Quantilly lord, married to Isabel of Sancerre, Menetou lady, may claim the title of Lord of Menetou. In 1391, she is described as wife of Arnulf of Bannay, lady Bussiere A trial took place between the lord of La Ferte -Imbault, William of Harcourt , and Arnulf of Bonnyrigg, knight, lord of Souesmes to because of Ysabeau Sancerre, his wife ... According to another author, Isabel was the wife of Robert de Bonnay and not that of Arnold: "Isabeau de Sancerre, if I believe the titles of the abbey of Saint-Sulpice, having married, not Arnold, but Robert Bonnay, lord of Menetou . "

Around 1360-1370, in a Pastoral letter of the Count of Blois ( Ludwig II of Blois-Châtillon ?) to the Receiver of Chateau-Renault , affecting Bonnay Arnulf (not Ernoul of Bouvay), the latter is described as "heir of Louis Sancerre " , . In 1402, Robert and Philip of Bonnyrigg, are called "cousins" of Louis de Sancerre.